International Magpie Roundup: Nov. 26

The World Cup has arrived and there are six Magpies playing in the group stages: Kieran Trippier, Nick Pope, and Callum Wilson for England, Garang Kuol is with Australia, Fabian Schar is part of the Swiss team, and Bruno plays for Brazil.

Here’s a recap of all that went on Saturday, Nov. 26, with more updates to come in the following days as games keep getting played with the World Cup still in the group stages.

Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

Garang Kuol (Australia)

Match: AUS vs Tunisia (World Cup)

After debuting in the World Cup at the ripe age of 18 against France (no less!) a few days ago, Garang Kuol was relegated to a full-time benching against Tunisia in the second game of the tournament for him and his fellow kangaroos.

Last Tuesday, Kuol entered the pitch in the 73rd minute and spent 25 on the pitch. No luck this time, although the Socceroos went on to defeat Tunisie on their way to their first win in a WC since 2010!

Mitchell Duke was the man to write his name in golden letters in the Aussie history books bagging the only goal of the game by way of a header to put Australia in front just 23 minutes into the affair.

Australia escaped this game with three points even though they trailed their foes in pretty much every statistic except shots off-target. They lost the possession battle, the number of shots on goal and total shots, connected on many fewer passes, etc.

Kuol will have another shot at making it to the pitch next week when Australia faces Denmark on Wednesday. Nothing is set in stone yet for those in Group D, so we’ll see if the Aussies trust the young forward or not on a crucial day for the aspirations of the Socceroos.